ROK Government Has No Plans to Stop Combined Exercises with the U.S.
The political opposition in South Korea is demanding that the ruling government stop combined exercises with USFK:
Military exercises involving U.S. and South Korean forces are a necessary consequence of the constant security threat from North Korea, the South’s national defense minister told lawmakers Monday.
Suspending exercises with the U.S. military “is impossible” in light of threats from North Korea, Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup told lawmakers at a parliamentary hearing Monday.
Rep. Cho Sujin,a conservative lawmaker and member of the ruling People Power Party, during the hearing described relations with North Korea as a “fraught situation” that requires people to be “highly attentive.”
Cho called on Lee to answer opposition critics who question whether the increased tempo of exercises is the correct response to North Korea’s record-breaking spate of ballistic missile tests this year. Several progressive South Korean non-governmental organizations and independent party lawmakers have been critical of the joint exercises and allege they fuel the division between Seoul and Pyongyang.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but the political opposition is playing right into the hands of the Kim regime of sowing division in South Korea while they quickly advance their missile and nuclear programs.
